Well it's Good Friday today. I felt it appropriate to delve into Orascion more. You may recall that an orascion is like a prayer that provided the possessor/reciter special powers. I transcribed some info from 2 books by Amante P. Marinas, Sr. and Mark Wiley below for your edification.

Enjoy!

Another librito had orasyones that provided protection before a fight, during a fight, after a fight and during flight. Fourteen of these are presented so that we may gain insight into the mental state of the possessor as he recites the orasyones. These are:

Sa paghasa ng patalim: For sharpening a weapon

Sa paglakad sa daan: While walking on the road

Upang hindi mabigla ng kaaway: Against ambush or surprise

Sa paglapit ng kaaway: At the enemy's approach

Laban sa nagpapagalit: Against one who incites to anger

Laban sa naghahamon: Against the challenge to a fight

Upang hindi matakot: For courage, to conquer fear

Pagsira ng loob ng kaaway: To weaken the enemy's will

Laban sa doce pares: Against the doce pares (twelve attacks)

Pagbali sa armas de mano: To break the enemy's weapon

Pagagaw sa armas: To disarm the enemy

Laban sa sugat: Against wounds

Upang hindi abutan: Against pursuit

Upang hindi makita ng kaaway: For invisibility

SOURCE:

Panananadata Knife Fighting

by Amante Marinas, Sr.

Pages 99-100

Copyright 1986

Paladin Press

The Filipino warrior places a great deal of faith in the power of
orasyon to provide his ability to control the spirits for his benefit.
He is practically close to them prior to engaging in mortal combat.
Orasyones are words, phrases or sentences considered
to possess mystical powers when recited mentally or verbally. Considered
divine acts of protection and power manifestation, their possession is
not limited to practitioners of martial arts. These prayers also serve
to bestow good luck on newlyweds for a happy
marriage or to farmers for a bountiful harvest. These general orasyones
can be found in little books known simply as libritos. These booklets
contain many prayers devoted to the martial arts on various levels, such
as to obtain skills in sharpening a sword,
for protection against an ambush, to maintain a clear and focused mind
in combat, for the ability to disarm an opponent, to break his weapon,
or cloud his mind when engaging in duel.

The following is a list of seven of the more common or "generic"
orasyones (relevant to the Filipino warrior) and their intended
meanings:

It must be noted that for these prayers to be effective they must be
inherited like the ancient martial arts of silat or kali, the Filipino
warrior's orasyones, too, are considered to be mana (an inheritance or
family heirloom to be handed down from parent
to child, or from master to disciple). When a possessor is on his
deathbed he assigns an heir to take over the practice of the guham
(power or force) and kalaki (manly prowess or virility). If no inheritor
is appointed or available, the possessor must then
tear the orasyon into small pieces and devour it in a serving of
samporado, a rice porridge mixed with chocolate milk and sugar. It was
only then that the anito or engkanto would be set free.

Orasyones have been preserved by tattooing them on the possessor's body
or weapon in ancient Filipino Baybayin script, Latin, Sanskrit, Jawi, or
any combination thereof. Cato notes: "The Moros did, at times, add
talismanic symbols and phrases from the Qur'an,
written in Jawi script, to the surfaces of their krises. To confuse
their meaning if the wrong person attempted to translate these prayers
(and hence use them for his own gains) abbreviations were often used for
many of the words. While this method of preservation
prevented the wrong person form using one's orasyon, it was not uncommon
for the rightful heir to not understand the various dialects in which
the prayer was encoded, thus being unable to interpret its meaning and
invoke its power.

According to folk beliefs the mandirigma also engaging in specific acts
in an effort to counteract orasyones his enemy might possess. For
example, prior to facing an opponent who is believed to possess an
orasyon that makes him impervious to being cut, the
warrior would rub his sword with boiled rice to render his opponent's
orasyon useless.

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Slowly but surely I've implemented changes to the site's look and functionality. I'm sure you have noticed the changes.Ecstatic that I've finally been able to successfully update my site closer more in line with my vision of it.

Not sure if it will be the final look of the site or not, but the Sojourn of Septillion Steps with respect to the site's look has already taken quite a few steps beyond the first!

I will still be endeavoring to put up information I think will benefit your martial arts training as well as your self-defense. I sincerely thank you for visiting/reading!